Kosode
by TheWonderfulShoe
Summary: What happened between that gap, where we saw Rin leave to follow Sesshoumaru, and when we see her again-happy, cheerful, TALKATIVE?  Much more like a child of her own age?  ...this is a little snapshot in Rin's POV of where she got that new kosode.


**A/N: So, I'm trying to get my 5 stories up. It's been a long, long time since I've written fanfiction...and not on this site! The lack of screening sometimes irked me. But I've been relying more and more on when I get the urge, so I decided that I'd like to put myself to work doing something I like, and help people write. This isn't going to be particularly long, and is planned to just be this one-shot. I'm not particularly convinced of my skill or dedication, but I hope it's not too terrible! ~TheWonderfulShoe**

_Morning already?_ Rin opened her eyes silently at the sound of birds chirping. She sat up and looked around. She stood, wobbling slightly, and saw that she was not in the company she had been the night before. Sesshoumaru-sama was gone. She had wondered, the first few times this happened, but had somehow known that he would come back. It was a regular sort of habit, now. It didn't bother her any longer. She trusted he'd return.

She wandered—not far—and looked around near where they had slept for things to eat. Some mushrooms. Some fruits. Some nuts. Anything, really, that she knew she could eat. She didn't think she heard any rivers, or she could have tried to find fish. She did not speak much, though she had responded to Sesshoumaru-sama when he asked her things, on a few occasions. It was getting easier.

That night, Jaken-sama and Sesshoumaru-sama returned. Rin had been asleep, since the sun had long since gone down and there was nothing to do but hope it didn't get too cold. At the sound of their return, Rin jumped up and ran up to them, beaming up at Sesshoumaru-sama. He stared at her without expression, and Rin grinned wider than ever because she could _tell_ that he was pleased with her, for some reason. Had she done well today? She had been on her _best behavior._

"Here." He said, without any preamble, and held out something with small, folded, and orange. She took it immediately, not wanting to make him wait. He turned around and sat near where the fire had been, before he had left. It had burnt out—apparently hours ago, maybe even before the girl had gone to sleep. One thing about not talking was that she never complained.

Rin was enthralled and carefully unwrapped the fabric. A new kosode…? Rin looked back at Sesshoumaru-sama and smiled, and then remembered her manners. She bowed and said thank you. Her voice was halting, but it was there. Sesshoumaru-sama only blinked, then looked away without any change in his expression.

"Yours was ugly. I disliked looking at it." He said in his slow, even, unemotional voice, his words sounding detached and uncaring. Rin could tell better, though. She saw what he meant, even when he didn't say it, sometimes.

Still, Rin looked down at herself critically, and had to agree with his judgment. This one _was_ ugly. It was dirty, stained with her blood, and had holes and rips from the woods and the attack from wolves...the attack that still scared her, and sometimes haunted her dreams. He turned back and stared at her, smelling the fear spike in the child, though she did not know he could. She looked back again to the fabric in her hands and smiled as her heart slowed and her fears eased away.

She looked back up at Sesshoumaru-sama, who rescued her, and who gave her this new kosode. She grinned widely again, and laughed. She hurried away for a moment to go use the bathroom, and came back dressed in the new kosode, rather than the old, which she left out in the woods. The wolves could have it now, for all she cared! She had a _new_ one, one pretty one that _Sesshoumaru-sama_ gave her. She had decided the instant she saw it that she would never wear that old one from the village again.

She spun around, admiring it happily in the faint light of the new fire Sesshoumaru-sama had set. The sun had been down longer than she thought. She sat and ate some of the food she had gathered, realizing now that she really _had_ been asleep when they arrived, for the sun was now rising again in the east. It was a new day. With an expressionless glance toward it, Sesshoumaru-sama stood up, and Rin followed suit quickly, watching him with curious eyes.

"Come, Rin." He said. She smiled, nodding with a short laugh, and followed after him in her new, clean kosode, hardly hearing Jaken's opposition, ready to go wherever they were traveling today.


End file.
